Over 30 policy makers and researchers from various Pakistani federal government ministries and departments took part in a three day training course on trade policy formulation and competitiveness analysis at the Pakistan Institute of Trade and Development (PITAD) in Islamabad between 27-29 September, 2011...

by BTP

At the start of the European Commission funded TRTA II programme a training needs assessment survey of the various government organizations was conducted, with training on trade policy formulation found to be in highest demand. An agreement was facilitated by ITC between PITAD and the Switzerland based World Trade Institute (WTI) for a twining arrangement to develop the training and research related capabilities of the local training institutes.

The training aimed to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding of trade policy design and its competitiveness analysis. It included topics such as the current practice of trade policy formulation in Pakistan, multi track approaches to trade policy formulation, trade theories and econometric models to evaluate competitiveness.

The feedback from the participants was very encouraging and they considered the training to have improved their knowledge and to have aided not only their professional careers but also future policy design in Pakistan. Furthermore, it is intended that PITAD will replicate, manage, organize and administer similar courses on trade policy in the future.

For this purpose, “Master Trainers” from PITAD, the Karachi based Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Lahore University of Management Science (LUMS) and the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) were selected to partake in training and individual mentoring from the WTI on trade policy issues. In turn, these trainers will be called upon to further disseminate their knowledge to policy makers working in various ministries through trainings, including PITAD’s regular curriculum.